HEDYSARUM ascendens; var. ceruleum. 
Blue-flowered Ascending Hedysarum. 
—g—— 
DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. 
Nat. ord. LEGUMINOS®&. Juss. 
HEDYSARUM. L. Supra fol. 355. 
HH. ascendens; foliis ternatis subrotundis subtus pubescentibus, caule terete, 
ramis declinatis ascendentibus pilosis, racemis simplicibus erectis axil- 
laribus. Swartz prodr. 106. 
H. ascendens. Willd. sp. pl. 3.1185. Swartz fl. ind. occ. 3. 1263. Pers. 
syn. 2. 320. 
Radices longe, divergentes. Caulis inferne suffruticosus, ramosus. Ra- 
mi ultimi declinati, ascendentes, pilosi, longi, teretes. Folia petiolata, ter- 
nata. Foliola subrotundo-ovata, minora, integra v. interdum emarginata, 
nervosa, subtus pubescentia, incana v. glauca. Stipule opposite, ad latera 
baseos petiolorum, subfalcato-lanccolate, marcescentes. Racemi terminali- 
axillares, erecti, simplices, solitarii, longi, multiflori, pedunculis alternis, 
remotiusculis, longis, filiformibus. Flores parvt rubri (purpurei). Legu- 
mina declinata, articulis 3-4, semirotundis, compressis, pubescentibus, 
Swartz I. c. 
Not having had an opportunity of seeing the plant from 
which our drawing was taken, at Mr. Colvill’s Nursery, we 
feel some degree of hesitation in referring it to Swartz’s 
H. ascendens: this, however, arises chiefly from the pre- 
sent individual being a native of Brazil, and having blue 
flowers ; while the H. ascendens is a native of Jamaica, and. 
has small red flowers. We have had an opportunity of 
comparing the drawing with specimens in the Banksian 
Herbarium, from St. Christopher’s, and also from Sierra 
Leone, with which it sufficiently agrees; and we perceive 
nothing, beyond what we have stated, in Swartz’s descrip- 
tion, which is at variance with our plant: we have, there- 
fore, indicated the differences we have observed, and are 
compelled to leave to other botanists, who have better 
means, the task of determining the point. 
A native of Brazil, and, like others of its tribe, easily 
propagated by cuttings. It is a stove plant, and will grow - 
in any common soil. 
Roots long, spreading. Stem at bottom rather shrubby, 
